As I was on my way to the Sahara desert last Friday, King Mohammed VI of Morocco gave a rare televised speech – apparently, only the second such appearance since the death of his father, King Hassan II several years ago – presenting to the people a draft constitution, as a major response to the February 20 movement which called for legal and political reforms in Morocco. The full text of the speech is here. In a nutshell, the constitution reduces the powers of the King – giving them to the Prime Minister instead and enhances the freedoms and liberties for the people. The weekend papers bore the headline “The Citizen-King.” That probably captures the bulk of the changes. But I’ll devote a proper entry on that in the future.
While I was watching the speech on al-Jazeera, it finally sunk in that I am in the middle of what could probably be one of the more remarkable stories to result from the so-called Arab Spring. There are protests here in Fes to be sure but they are far fewer and smaller in magnitude than those in Casablanca or Rabat. And even then, those in Casablanca or Rabat definitely pale in comparison to what has gone on in neighboring Tunisia or Algeria, or even Egypt. I decided to be a bit more curious and asked around earlier today on who I can talk to regarding these issues. I was hoping to find a law or political science professor who can enlighten me about stuff. Instead, the school director introduced me to a cultural analyst who teaches in the local university and teaches Arabic here at ALIF at the same time. This is also the first time I’ve heard of the term cultural analyst. Anyhow, we will discuss this over coffee tomorrow in school and maybe he can actually give me something other than what the newspapers say.
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